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A stunning late free-kick by Elano added to earlier goals by Martin Petrov and Emile Mpenza for City, after Obafemi Martins had put the visitors in front.

Both managers made changes in goal in their otherwise settled sides. Shay Given reclaimed his number one spot for Newcastle, while City's Kasper Schmeichel was dropped in favour of Joe Hart, who was making only his second Premier League start.

City could have been ahead after only five minutes after Charles N'Zogbia's backpass put Given in trouble. Mpenza charged down the Irish goalkeeper's clearance, but the deflection took it away from goal.

The home side were controlling the midfield through Michael Johnson and Dietmar Hamann. Johnson and Stephen Ireland combined one-touch passes to set up Elano for a shot from the edge of the area, but Given managed to get a strong hand to it to stop it hitting the top corner.

It was Newcastle who made the breakthrough though. Geremi's long diagonal ball was brought down with a good first touch in the box from Martins, before the Nigerian lifted the ball past the onrushing Hart.

Hart could do nothing about that effort, but a calamitous mistake almost doubled Newcastle's lead two minutes later. The England Under-21 keeper miscontrolled a simple backpass from Javier Garrido, and the ball rolled towards goal. Hart sprinted back and just managed to clear to ball right on the line.

City's equaliser came through Petrov's third goal in two games. Elano, whose passing cut through the Newcastle defence all afternoon, released Ireland down the right wing. The Republic of Ireland international fired a low ball across the face of goal, which the Bulgarian winger ran onto at the far post to finish from an acute angle.

Petrov turned provider just after half time. He completely outstripped Steven Taylor for pace and crossed from the byline for Mpenza to send a diving header back across Given and into the bottom corner.

The second half was less flowing and had more stoppages than the first, which meant that Newcastle found it hard to gain momentum in their search for an equaliser.

It was not to be for Sam Allardyce's men, however, and Elano capped off another great City performance with his first goal for the club in the 88th minute, bludgeoning a 30-yard free-kick into the top-left corner with sensational power and accuracy.

City manager Sven-Goran Eriksson looked delighted as he congratulated the Brazilian when he came off just after his goal.

Tony Mabert / Eurosport